Wheelchair Dartframe receives overwhelming support at Victorian Open14/06/2010 From Russ Strobel
VDC Vice President
Multiple Sclerosis sufferer Ian Gray and his wife Anne travelled from Werribee to view the unique duo dartframe at the Vic Open in Morwell.
Ian, a talented dart player before his disease, threw his first darts in ten years and would love to compete against able-bodied players again. "It's the atmosphere of these competitions I miss," said Ian.
The response to the dartframe from able-bodied players over the weekend was exceptional with every player signing to say they would be happy to include the frame in competitions and go head to head with wheelchair players. This includes Australia's highest ranked female player Carol Forwood who wants to promote the design during visit to New Zealand next month. Two other top five ranked lady players were in attendance and signed their support. Five of Australia's highest ranked men were at the event and willingly signed their support also. This is just amazing, and in theory, had we been allowed to use the dartframe during the event no player would have objected to playing against a wheelchair user, in fact players are now excited at the possibility of doing so. You can't imagine how overwhelming the support was and I will remember this weekend for the rest of my life. Local newspapers and television were very keen to get footage of the dartframe and spent over 30 minutes filming and interviewing. It will air tomorrow night on Win News.
By any account this was a huge weekend for the prospect of getting the revised dartboard height accepted nationally and wheelchair players into our sport.
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